The former Nintendo saw an increase in his net worth in part due to all of those Nintendo shares he still owns.
Forbes Asia magazine compiled a list of the 40 richest Japanese, and former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi ranked in at number three with net worth of $4.8 billion.
Last year, the magazine put him at position 14. The 11-spot jump was due to Nintendo's skyrocketing stock value, stock that Yamauchi still owns a lot of. Yamauchi retired from Nintendo in June 2005 after 55 years at the company.
Yamauchi isn't that far behind the two front runners: Akira Mori, a real estate mogul; and Masayoshi Son, chair of Japan's number three wireless service provider. Both have a net worth of near $5.5 billion each.